L'appartement (1996)

Director:

Gilles Mimouni

Writer:

Gilles Mimouni (writer)

Release Date:

27 July 1996 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Romance

Plot:

Max is on his way to Tokyo. He lives in Paris and likes to flirt but has decided to get married. By chance...

Plot Keywords:

Buddy | Apartment | Airport | Nonlinear Timeline | Actress

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Romane Bohringer	...	Alice
Vincent Cassel	...	Max
Jean-Philippe Écoffey	...	Lucien
Monica Bellucci	...	Lisa
Sandrine Kiberlain	...	Muriel
Olivier Granier	...	Daniel
Paul Pavel	...	Jeweller
Nelly Alard	...	Madeleine
Bruno Leonelli	...	Alain Beccaria
Tateo Isaizaki	...	Japanese Businessman
Tsuyu Shimizu	...	Japanese Interpreter
Ricardo Mateo	...	Cafe Waiter
Vincent Nemeth	...	Barman
Bruno Fernández Vella	...	Video Technician
Juan Carlos Martín Alonso	...	Video Technician

Also Known As:

Flash-back (El apartamento) (Spain)
L'appartamento (Italy)
The Apartment

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexuality/nudity.

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

France | Spain | Italy

Language:

French | English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

UK:15 | USA:R (DVD) | Finland:K-15 (2006) | South Korea:18 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Estudios Los Angeles, Madrid, Spain

Company:

Cecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinematografica

Movie Connections:

References North by Northwest (1959)

Soundtrack:

Same kind of woman

Le Apartment Rouge

I watched this film for the second time tonight after about three years and it was as wonderful as before...

There are more than a dozen modern stunning French films from en couer de hiver to the three colours trilogy and all of them are special. This film is one of them. A true delight with so many great things going for it from the homage to Hitchcock to two beautiful ladies in Romane and Monica. While Monica is very beautiful, Romane is a very sexy lady and steals many of the scenes she inhabits.

I am not sure why people think this film is convoluted as the scenes are such a perfect blend of past and present acting as a counterpoint to the characters' own remarkable journey that the film simply flows and you barely realise that 116 minutes of beauty and mystery have left the viewed enchanted and bewitched.

Like most French and European films this story would never translate across the Atlantic as no studio could capture the magic without throttling the life out of it with the Hollywood bleaching common to most movies that become lost in translation. Americans make brilliant films, but not of this type... perhaps if they let someone like a young Polanski work on it then maybe they would not totally butcher an English version...

For those who do not watch subtitled films you will spend a lifetime in ignorant bliss. For those who can read then you would be spiting yourself to miss films like this...

I would describe this as Neo-Franco-Noir, but only to cheese off the reviewer who called this film elitist. I think I saw him doing an add for four-and-twenty-pies. He thinks Romane Bohringer is a type of French Mayonnaise...It is arty in the way that Pulp Fiction is arty...but with more Gallic savoire faire...

10 out of 10 with every viewing...and has anyone got Romane's phone number...she is the perfect French Salad Dressing...